[Mdchallenger43]

My challenger came with 18's. I love the smooth ride but can't stand the grey wheels. Found a deal on brand new black 20's. I'm worried about gas mileage and ride quality going down. Any thoughts or input? Thanks

 

[USRWDV8]

Just that the stock 18s have a nice design that, I agree, the gray paint cheapens a bit. But they can be painted and/or polished for less than the cost of new wheels so you don't have to give up the sidewall or the fit of factory wheels. I expect that people will encourage to get 20s for all sorts of reasons, though.

 

[BlackHemi41]

I have the chrome clad 20s from factory, and I bought a set of those same 18s you have for winter. Honestly I prefer how the 18s look (been tempted to use them all year round haha). That's just my preference though.

As for ride quality, the Challenger stock suspension is pretty soft and it's a big car so I don't notice much difference with the 20s over the 18s. My suspension is stock. Gas mileage only suffers a little bit with the 20s but not much. It's not drastic enough to worry about.

 

[WXman]

Those wheels pictured above are the machined finish. The ones that came on my car are painted silver. They look completely different. I like the ones in the pic.

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[USRWDV8]

No, they didn't come that way. Just like the Mopar center cap isn't stock. I was just showing the wheel's potential.

 

[Cuda340]

You won't notice a lesser ride quality with the 20 inch wheels. They are standard on the SRTs and were purposely chosen by the designers to fill up the wheel well.

 

[TonyrT]

I'm making the 18''-20'' upgrade as well, will it effect the gear ratio of my rear end? It came with a 3.73.

 

[jaelliott]

Yes Tony your RPM will drop in all gear. Bigger tire makes less revolutions. I went to 20" from 18". But that is ONLY because my 18" would not fit over the brembo brakes I upgraded to. Looking back on it I wish I didn't do the Brembo brake upgrade. Lots of money and very rarely use the benefits in daily driving. But I think of good brakes kind of like 4x4 in a truck. Not used often but when you need it you NEED it. I just wish the R/T could come with Brembo from the factory and save me the labor install costs.

 

[WXman]

The stock 20" tires are listed at 729 revs per mile.

The stock 18" tires are listed at 731 revs per mile.

This is virtually undetectable by the vehicle ECU. There will be no difference in effective gear ratio, speedo readings, etc. by going from 18s to 20s.

What you will get is more weight. The 20" stock tires are about 1-2 lbs. heavier and the wheels are 3-6 lbs. heavier depending upon model so you're adding several lbs. of unsprung weight which hurts performance. You're also adding friction with the wider contact patch which helps acceleration but hurts fuel economy. And I don't see how you could possibly not lose ride quality. Anybody knows that less sidewall equals a stiffer ride. Period.

So my opinion is if you want performance, power, fuel economy, and ride quality...go with 18s. If you want the best looking setup...go with 20s.

 

[KJ392]

I'm making the 18''-20'' upgrade as well, will it effect the gear ratio of my rear end? It came with a 3.73.

If the diameters are close, it won't change you ratio or speedometer much.

 

[jaelliott]

The stock 20" tires are listed at 729 revs per mile.

The stock 18" tires are listed at 731 revs per mile.

This is virtually undetectable by the vehicle ECU. There will be no difference in effective gear ratio, speedo readings, etc. by going from 18s to 20s.

What you will get is more weight. The 20" stock tires are about 1-2 lbs. heavier and the wheels are 3-6 lbs. heavier depending upon model so you're adding several lbs. of unsprung weight which hurts performance. You're also adding friction with the wider contact patch which helps acceleration but hurts fuel economy. And I don't see how you could possibly not lose ride quality. Anybody knows that less sidewall equals a stiffer ride. Period.

So my opinion is if you want performance, power, fuel economy, and ride quality...go with 18s. If you want the best looking setup...go with 20s.

I was running Goodyear Assurance Comfortred tires at 235/55R18. They list 744 revs per mile. So maybe that is why I saw a difference when I swapped to 245/45R20 at 729 revs per mile.

 

[BlackHemi41]

So my opinion is if you want performance, power, fuel economy, and ride quality...go with 18s. If you want the best looking setup...go with 20s.

Normally I'd agree with you. 18s have clear advantages over 20s in many ways except one key area: Summer performance tire selection, such as Michelin Pilot Super sport and Pirelli P-Zero etc. You just can't find these kinds of tires in higher profile sizes that will fit our Challengers. A 20 inch wheel allows you to have a low-profile performance tire that is still tall enough to properly fill the wheelwell.

I'm not a fan of huge wheels myself because I don't like the added weight or the fact that a lot of people put them on just for "bling" factor. But I've really come to appreciate the grip and handling benefits of a summer tire so that's why I still use my stock 20s. I certainly wouldn't go bigger though.

 

[WXman]

I was running Goodyear Assurance Comfortred tires at 235/55R18. They list 744 revs per mile. So maybe that is why I saw a difference when I swapped to 245/45R20 at 729 revs per mile.

Yeah probably. I was just going by the factory tires in each size. People tend to think that 20s automatically equals bigger but it doesn't. The overall diameter is virtually the same.